Category: IA-01

State Representative Abby Finkenauer will post another strong fundraising total for her bid to take on Congressman Rod Blum in Iowa’s highly-targeted 1st District. Finkenauer’s campaign tells Starting Line they raised over $480,000 in the 1st quarter of 2018, bringing her total raised during this cycle to $1.1 million. That’s more than Monica Vernon, the Democrats’ 2016 nominee who was an excellent fundraiser in her own right, raised at this point in the 2016 cycle ($335,000 in 2016’s 1st quarter). It was also accomplished while Finkenauer was putting in many hours for her job up at the Iowa Statehouse – […]

Guest post from former California Congressman Henry Waxman As a long-time member of the U.S. Congress and as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, protecting the environment for current and future generations was one of my top priorities. Throughout the 1980s, I defended the Clean Air Act against attacks by President Reagan, and later helped pass strengthening amendments enacted under President George H.W. Bush. We’ve improved and saved countless lives by limiting urban smog, acid rain, and other toxic air pollution. I introduced the first bill on climate change back in 1992. Having retired from Congress, I am […]

A guest post from Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker One of the greatest screenwriters of the modern era developed a political television series called The West Wing. While the series came to an end over a decade ago, it has become required watching not only for students of electoral politics, but for all civic-minded Americans. In one of the more popular episodes entitled “Game On,” the president, played by Martin Sheen, has a revelation in the middle of a televised debate. His opponent gives a canned answer to a complex question. The president fires back highlighting the folly of reducing […]

Federal candidates’ campaign finance reports for 2017’s 4th quarter were due this past week, and they once again give us a sense of where the money aspect of Iowa’s congressional races stand. The dynamics of the 1st District primary largely stays the same, while the numbers cast a slightly new light on the 3rd and 4th District contests. Starting Line will take a brief look at each district. 1st Congressional District Abby Finkenauer’s $302,000 haul didn’t just surpass all the Democratic candidates in her race and the other districts – she out-raised every single incumbent member of Congress in Iowa, […]

In one of Democrats’ best hopes for flipping a Midwestern Republican congressional district, a leading Democratic challenger for Iowa’s 1st District has raised over $300,000 in the 4th quarter reporting period. State Representative Abby Finkenauer’s campaign informed Starting Line today that they should be posting a total of around $302,000 or $303,000 for the final quarter of 2017. That doubles Finkenauer’s previous filing and puts her in a strong position both for the Democratic primary and her potential general election matchup against incumbent Republican Rod Blum. This brings Finkenauer’s overall total raised for her race to over $600,000 – she […]

Iowa Republican Congressmen David Young and Rod Blum will start feeling the pressure for their votes on a tax bill that targeted huge breaks to the wealthiest Americans this week. Not One Penny, a progressive coalition group formed earlier this year to push back against Republicans’ tax plans, will start running ads in Iowa criticizing the two for raising taxes on the middle class. It’s part of a national seven-figure ad buy to hold members of Congress accountable for their votes. “David Young voted for the Republican tax plan to raises taxes on middle class families,” the narrator says on […]

Call them liberals, progressives, activists, or Indivisible, but do NOT call them paid protesters or political operatives. What they do is not dictated by some outside entity, it is matter of personal belief and their actions come from the heart. The payment they seek is an America where each is able to live their life to his or her full potential under the constructs of the Constitution. Like many concerned citizens after the election of 2016, these individuals were looking for a way to communicate with their elected officials. For those whose beliefs did not match the far-right ideology, they […]

Thomas Heckroth’s campaign rolled out a long list of endorsers for his candidacy in Iowa’s 1st District Democratic primary today. State Representative Art Staed of Cedar Rapids joins Iowa House colleague Bruce Bearinger (who announced his support earlier) in backing the Waverly native. And he added a large host of activists and former elected officials from Black Hawk and Linn counties, including former congressional and state legislative candidate Gary Kroeger and Linn County Supervisor Ben Rogers. “Thomas understands the challenges facing the 1st District, but he also knows there’s tremendous potential to grow these communities and create new opportunity,” said […]

Democrats face large primary fields for the 1st, 3rd and 4th congressional districts in Iowa, making it a little tough at times to figure out how things could shake out. But after months of candidate announcements, the races are starting to come into focus. At this point it seems like everyone who is going to get in is in, and yesterday’s 3rd quarter campaign finance filings gave the first full picture of where the candidates stack up money-wise. Starting Line will be taking a look at each congressional district this week for the Democrats and Republicans running, analyzing the finance […]